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Monday, 13 August 2012

US arms sales to Pakistan touch $5.4 billion since 2001: Pentagon

US military sales to Pakistan since 2001, including in-process supply of F-16 combat aircraft, are collectively worth about $5.4 billion accordingly to a newly-released report.

Major US arms sales and grants to Pakistan since 2001 have included not only items related to counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, but also a host of big ticket platforms more suited to conventional warfare. “The Pentagon reports total Foreign Military Sales agreements with Pakistan worth about $5.4 billion for FY2002-FY2010 (in-process sales of F-16 combat aircraft and related equipment account for about half of this),” the report said. It notes that in dollar value terms, the bulk of purchases have been made with Pakistani national funds, but US grants have eclipsed these in recent years.

According to the report, the United States has provided Pakistan with nearly $2.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) since 2001. These funds are used to purchase US military equipment for longer-term modernization efforts. “Pakistan has also been granted U.S. defense supplies as Excess Defense Articles (EDA),” the report says, noting that the long period of discord in US-Pakistan relations beginning mid-FY2011 “has slowed the pace of transfers and deliveries considerably”. Major post-2001 defence supplies provided, or soon to be provided, under FMF are said to include the following:

l Eight P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and their refurbishment (valued at $474 million, four delivered, but two of these were destroyed in a March 2011 attack by Islamist militants);

Supplies paid for with a mix of Pakistani national funds and FMF include:

*up to 60 Mid-Life Update kits for F-16A/B combat aircraft (valued at $891 million, with $477 million of this in FMF, Pakistan currently plans to purchase 45 such kits and 8 have been delivered to date); and

The report goes on to say that under Coalition Support Funds (part of the Pentagon budget), Pakistan received 26 Bell 412 utility helicopters, along with related parts and maintenance, valued at $235 million.